Eyetalk365, LLC v. Zmodo Tech. Corp. Ltd.

356 F. Supp. 3d 1059
District Court, D. Nevada·Decided February 14, 2018·No. 2:17-cv-02714-RCJ-PAL·Published

Opinion

ROBERT C. JONES, United States District Judge

This case arises out of the alleged infringement of a patent for an audio-video doorbell system. Pending before the Court are two motions to dismiss.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff Eyetalk365, LLC is a North Carolina entity with its principle place of business in that state. (Compl. ¶ 2, ECF No. 1). Plaintiff is the assignee of U.S. Patent No. 9,432,638 ("the Patent") entitled "Communication and Monitoring System," which issued on August 30, 2016. (Id. ¶¶ 11-12). Defendant Zmodo Technology Corp. Limited is a Nevada entity with its principle place of business in Illinois. (Id. ¶ 3).

Plaintiff sued Defendant in the Western District of North Carolina, alleging direct infringement of claims 1 and 6 of the Patent in violation of 35 U.S.C. § 271(a)"by making, using, offering for sale, selling, and/or importing [infringing] devices in the United States," (id. ¶ 13), as well as inducing infringement of those claims in violation of 35 U.S.C. § 271(b), (id. ¶ 21). Defendant answered and filed counterclaims for declaratory judgment of non-infringement and invalidity under §§ 101, 102, 103, and 112. (Answer & Countercl., ECF No. 15). Both parties demanded a jury.

Defendant moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Plaintiff answered the Counterclaim and moved to dismiss Defendant's fourth through ninth affirmative defenses for failure to satisfy Rule 8(c). Chief Judge Whitney of the Western District of North Carolina denied the dispositive motions without prejudice as premature.

Soon after the Supreme Court decided TC Heartland , Defendant filed a motion to dismiss or transfer because it resided in Nevada and had no regular and established place of business in the Western District of North Carolina. See 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) ; TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Grp. Brands LLC , --- U.S. ----, 137 S.Ct. 1514, 1520-21, 197 L.Ed.2d 816 (2017). Chief Judge Whitney granted the motion in part, transferring the case to this District. The case was randomly assigned to Judge Dorsey but immediately randomly reassigned to this Court because Judge Dorsey was not a patent pilot program *1062judge.1 Claim construction briefing was completed before transfer, but the parties and the Magistrate Judge have not yet determined whether to consolidate claim construction in the related cases. Before construing the claims, the Court will decide the motions to dismiss filed before transfer, as the parties indicated should be done at a recent status conference before the Magistrate Judge. The Court will not consider the previously filed motion for partial summary judgment until after claim construction.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS

A. Rule 8(a)

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief" in order to "give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests." Conley v. Gibson , 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests the complaint's sufficiency, see N. Star Int'l v. Ariz. Corp. Comm'n , 720 F.2d 578, 581 (9th Cir. 1983), and dismissal is appropriate only when the complaint does not give the defendant fair notice of a legally cognizable claim and the grounds on which it rests. See Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007).

A court treats factual allegations as true and construes them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, NL Indus., Inc. v. Kaplan , 792 F.2d 896, 898 (9th Cir. 1986), but does not accept as true "legal conclusions ... cast in the form of factual allegations." Paulsen v. CNF Inc. , 559 F.3d 1061, 1071 (9th Cir. 2009). A plaintiff must plead facts pertaining to his case making a violation "plausible," not just "possible." Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 677-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Twombly , 550 U.S. at 556

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Eyetalk365, LLC v. Zmodo Tech. Corp. Ltd., 356 F. Supp. 3d 1059 (D. Nev. 2018).

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